Andy's Preschool Non-Graduation

It's the end of Andy's first year of preschool! We think it's been a good experience for him--he doesn't really come home and tell us about his day, but he seems to enjoy it (he gets excited about riding the bus and jumps up and down when he sees it coming). He's been sick and missed a few days, but he got to go for the last day.



The kids had a couple of songs prepared, which they performed in the lunch room for assembled parents. Andy didn't enjoy this part. His teachers told me that he knows the songs and often sings them to himself when he's playing in the classroom, but never sings with the group.They are a bit cacophonous.  (My sister Betsey, as a child, dropped out of preschool because she couldn't stand the singing.  Andy seems to have a similar auditory sensitivity.)



After the two songs we went out on the playground and let the kids run around a while, then went into the classroom.  Reading is Andy's favorite thing to do during free time.



He likes to look at the braille books for the two vision-impaired students.



Andy gets his certificate.  All the students had hats, whether they were graduating or not.  (Andy still has one more year to go.)  The matching shirt was completely unintentional. 



Andy already knows a lot of things (he's great at reading and counting), but he's working on things like communicating, interacting with other kids, and following directions in the classroom. Andy has some great teachers!  We appreciate their efforts with our unique little boy. 

Andy at Preschool

I love this picture that Andy's teacher sent.  It's just so him.

Preschool Pumpkins

Andy's preschool class took a field trip to Spooner Farms in Puyallup, and I got to go along. It was a chilly day! Drippy, and muddy.





There's a barn with some animals to look at and some activities for the little kids. Andy liked the chicks. We all liked getting in out of the cold for a while.



Andy was walking around these crayons and reading the labels, but the green one was facing the wrong way, so I had to help him fix it.



Andy got a kick out of riding the bus with Mom. On the way back we were having fun writing on the foggy windows. 

We had a pretty dry summer but now that autumn has hit we're getting pretty steady rain.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to do playing-in-the-leaves picture this year.  (Wet leaves are just not pleasant to play in!)

Andy Goes to Preschool

Andy started preschool!  He's going two mornings a week for two-and-a-half hours, and he gets to ride the school bus, which he thinks is great fun.   (Buses are cool!)



Here he is all conked out after his first day.  All that excitement is exhausting.

We had Andy evaluated through Child Find for his speech issues (I'm not exactly clear on what Child Find is, but something through the schools) and he qualified to get some help through the preschool program. What he has isn't technically a delay, since delay means that the child is still developing normally but behind schedule. In Andy's approach to communication he seems to be trying to come at it from the other side. He's reading like crazy, and he chatters away reciting things that he's memorized (over and over and over), but it's more like he's practicing talking than actually using it to communicate. If we want him to say something we have to write it down and get him to read it. This is definitely atypical. At school he'll be working with a speech specialist.  We hope he enjoys it!